The Great Neck Public Library Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Tuesday to only keep three branches opened during the renovation of the Main Branch.
“I think it’s the smartest way to go,” library board President Marietta DiCamillo said at a board meeting. “We have to be very savvy about the way we spend public tax payers dollars.”
The board had previously considered opening a fourth temporary branch during the renovation process, which is being paid for by a $10.4 million bond approved by voters in November.
DiCamillo said the board had decided against that proposal due to worries over costs.
“It doesn’t make sense to spend a quarter of a million dollars on a space only to turn it off in under a year,” DiCamillo said.
DiCamillo had said the board did receive offers on donated or reduced priced properties, but said “they were not useful.”
“It would cost too much to remedy the space for the time we’d be using it,” she said.
The Station and Lakeville branches would extend their hours to be similar to that of the main branch, DiCamillo said.
The two branches would also host most of the library’s programming events.
“We will try our very best to provide the best services we can,” DiCamillo said.
Ralene Adler, a Great Neck resident and a member of the relocation committee, said she was pleased with the trustees decision.
“I think that the three sites are the most logical cost efficient and realistic way to go,” Adler said.
“Those three branches, which makes up 40 percent of the operating budget, are currently under utilized,” she said.
